Defeat 'hard to take' after Ireland got into winning position

Andy Balbirnie in action for Ireland against the West Indies in the first ODI in Jamaica. Picture: Cricket West Indies

A gutsy batting display, led by a 71 from captain Andrew Balbirnie, wasn’t enough for Ireland to chase down the West Indies in the first one-day international at Sabina Park in Kingstown last night.

Big contributions from debutant Shamarh Brooks (93) and the big-hitting Kieran Pollard (69) helped the hosts post a score of 269 despite a strong finish from the Irish bowling.

The efforts of the captain and Harry Tector, who scored his fifth half-century in his last eight innings at ODI level, meant Ireland were ahead of the game mid-way through the chase.

However, despite a late 30 from 25 balls from George Dockrell, and a nine-ball 21 from Mark Adair, wickets tumbled and Ireland were all out for 245, losing by 24 runs.

Balbirnie pointed to a few “distractions off the pitch” in his post-match interview, acknowledging that Covid had significantly impacted on the squad, leaving the toursits without Paul Stirling and Simi Singh, who were both named in the world team of the year for 2021.

“I thought the fielding effort was good, but I thought we could have bowled a bit better up the top and made them play on the front foot a bit more, just for that bit of nip there was early on," Dubliner Balbirnie said after scoring his 13th ODI half-century to add to seven tons in green.

"We had a really good middle period and dragged ourselves back into the game, but obviously they got away from us with that big partnership (between Brooks and Pollard). It was a topsy-turvy innings, but at the halfway stage we were happy enough with 270 to chase.

The captain added that after getting themselves in a position to win the defeat was "hard to take".

“In the chase, when myself and Harry got out it turned the tide of the match. That was disappointing for both me and Harry – we talk about guys winning matches for Ireland and it was one of those opportunities for one of us to do that. We set up a run chase that is pretty much our blueprint, so not to get over the line is hard to take at the moment, but we’ve got two more games to put it right.

“There’s been a lot of distractions off the pitch, it certainly hasn’t been ideal, but to get out and play today has been great for the boys.”

The sides meet again on Tuesday before the third game on Friday.